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More quality improvement initiatives to come from the APCC Program

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The Improvement Foundation (IF) is to deliver a range of new Australian Primary Care Collaborative (APCC) Program Waves as part of the current phase of the Program.

Through these new initiatives, more than 80 general practices and health services across Australia will engage in quality improvement during the health reform process, with a focus on improving the management and/or prevention of chronic disease.

“Maintaining the focus on quality improvement by frontline services has never been more important. During the health reform process, the APCC Program, through these new initiatives, will play a vital role in helping to keep the focus on improving health outcomes for patients and embedding continuous quality improvement into the everyday work of general practices and other primary healthcare services,” says Mr Colin Frick, Chief Executive Officer of the Improvement Foundation.

Implementation will take shape in a number of ways – all of which continue to focus on developing and delivering quality improvement programs that support the delivery of measureable, systematic and sustainable improvements to primary health care systems and patient care, in line with the Improvement Foundation’s (IF) core objectives.

Complex Chronic Disease and Integration Wave The Complex Chronic Disease and Integration Wave will be delivered in collaboration with the local Health and Hospital Service in Queensland.

This Wave will engage Primary Care Health Services to improve the management of patients with complex chronic disease, and support improved integration between the primary care system and Hospital and Health Service network.

It is expected that a secondary outcome of this work will be a measurable reduction in avoidable hospital admissions and an increase in the use of the national eHealth infrastructure.

National Collaborative Waves IF will introduce a number of specialised Waves to the Program that focus on greater engagement of practice managers, practice nurses and other primary health care professionals to lead quality improvement work within their organisations.

IF is working closely with national organisations such as the Australian Association of Practice Managers and the Australian Practice Nurses Association to ensure the design and delivery of the Waves adequately support these health professionals to implement quality improvement and improve patient outcomes within their organisations.

IF will continue to deliver the existing Diabetes Prevention and Management Wave (Wave 9) and Cardiovascular Disease and Chronic Kidney Disease Wave (Wave 10) to completion. During this period of transition in the primary health care sector, IF will be providing direct support to participating general practices and health services to ensure continuity and sustainability of improvements.